UCP officials feared ‘what else might be lurking in the shadows’ during Caylan Ford debacle

CALGARY — A former senior UCP campaign official says he warned journalists that the main source behind allegations made against former candidate Caylan Ford was not credible.Matt Solberg, the UCP’s director of communications during the 2019 campaign, told the Court of King’s Bench in Calgary on Monday that he raised concerns with reporters about political activist Karim Jivraj — the individual who circulated private Facebook Messenger texts attributed to Ford, which stopped her campaign in its tracks, as accusations of Ford having “white supremacist” sentiments began surfacing..Solberg testified at Ford’s defamation lawsuit that he had a close working relationship with members of the media, including then Edmonton-based Toronto Star reporter Kieran Leavitt, and would regularly provide background context to ensure accuracy, adding that he warned the Star writer about Jivraj’s credibility.“My goal was to make Kieran understand the broader context and source of allegations against Ford and that they had credibility issues,” Solberg said.“Karim had a record of sending falsified messages against Caylan.”Despite those concerns, Solberg acknowledged the UCP didn’t have access to the original messages that were circulating publicly, which left officials unable to confirm whether the messages attributed to Ford were authentic as she had previously deleted them. “We didn’t have the messages to corroborate or deny the veracity of the messages,” he told the court.That lack of verification created uncertainty within the party, with Solberg testifying that he personally was unsure whether the messages were real or had been potentially doctored.The court heard Ford warned Solberg on March 18, 2019, that Press Progress was preparing to publish a story about her several hours before it appeared.Solberg described the timing — on the eve of the election — as “very problematic.”He testified the messages referenced in the story were the first time the campaign had seen anything beyond a previously circulated snippet between Ford and Jivraj related to the carbon tax in January 2019.“We knew there was a lack of full context,” Solberg said.“This felt very much like a coordinated campaign.”.Kenney denies Caylan Ford was 'handpicked', says racism claims were ‘completely absurd’.As the story broke and rapidly spread, Solberg said the campaign initially hoped Ford might weather the storm but also said UCP officials started to question if that was the right choice as additional reporting from other outlets began coming out, and uncertainty remained about what other material might possibly surface.“It became not just about this story but what else might be lurking in the shadows,” he said.Solberg also told the court the UCP had an established practice of not engaging with Press Progress, which he viewed as being aligned with the NDP.“Our approach with Press Progress was typically not to respond to media requests or comment,” he said, adding he personally thought “a lot of their work seemed to be opinion masquerading as journalism.”During cross-examination, Solberg testified he was not aware that Press Progress had reached out to Ford “six times” on March 18, 2019, for comment.Asked about his approach to handling the outlet, Solberg agreed he was apprehensive about engaging with them and confirmed that was both his personal practice and a broader UCP campaign approach.However, as things started to escalate, the UCP “knew that simply ignoring this wasn’t going to make it go away.”In response, the campaign began preparing for the political fallout and briefed then-UCP leader Jason Kenney.Solberg said he advised Ford early on in the day to “sit tight” and avoid responding publicly while the campaign assessed the situation.However, by late evening on March 18, he said it became clear her candidacy was no longer tenable.He testified that by around 11:30 p.m., it was decided Ford would resign, and he advised her to post a statement that night, adding that while Ford appeared upset, she was ultimately cooperative in drafting and releasing the resignation letter.“I struggled with the reality that we couldn’t be associated with her from that point on... I didn’t know what was true or not,” Solberg said.“I felt bad, frankly, that she was no longer a candidate.”

UCP officials feared ‘what else might be lurking in the shadows’ during Caylan Ford debacle

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